Teaching Institute

September 26-28

The activities during the Teaching Institute provide participants with greater understanding and skills in the following areas: articulating and implementing the philosophy of Process Education, student learning processes, teaching and facilitation, and self-assessment and assessments of student learning outcomes.

Assessment Institute

August 7-9 and January 23-25, 2009

This three-day institute features hands-on, interactive sessions where participants will experiment with new techniques, share discoveries through group discussion, and reinforce important principles through just-in-time lectures and consulting sessions.

The quality of educational institutions and the outcomes they produce can be directly linked to the effective implementation of certain key process areas: learning, teaching, curriculum design, and assessment. The Course Design Institute offers practical strategies, techniques, and tips for creating activities and materials, and designing courses and programs which support process-oriented approaches to teaching and learning and improve student learning and success.

Curriculum design is an extremely important process because the type of curriculum used, along with its quality, significantly influences the manner in which students learn and the way faculty teach. Traditional curricula are written to support traditional methods of instruction. Using such traditional material makes it more difficult for faculty who utilize student-centered, active learning approaches to achieve the process outcomes they desire. By integrating learning theory into the design process, curricula can be created that support Process Education approaches, thereby creating learning environments which challenge students to develop essential learning skills while mastering content. This Institute offers practical strategies, techniques, and tips for creating activities and materials in addition to designing courses and programs to support process-oriented guided-inquiry approaches to teaching and learning.

Interactive Learning System Institutes are for individuals who want to use technology and the Web to improve the quality of the teaching and learning processes on their campuses. The contexts for implementing a "learning system" include: in-class instruction, distance learning, instructional computing, self-study, supplemental instruction, and an "on-line university."

Faculty members throughout higher education are being asked to become better researchers of their own practices—whether it be in disciplinary context, teaching, or other areas of (faculty) performance. Since scholarly effort is a component of most faculty members’ tenure, promotion, and merit systems, it is important that individuals receive credit for additional research that is not published in discipline journals. In response to these increasing research demands, this institute focuses on helping faculty members further develop their scholarly efforts, as it pertains to their role as an educator. Participants will gain a greater sense of confidence and professionalism with respect to researching about the scholarship of teaching and learning.

The Leadership Institute has been designed to help leaders throughout the organization to facilitate change process from a variety of roles. The challenges that are confronting Higher Education means that most universities and colleges need to transform themselves. This is evident when analyzing strategic plans and their initiatives. This event provides strong grounding in change process within Higher Education, the roles that administrators play, and building skills in leadership and management that integrate into this change process.